Bottle crusher



: April 7, 1970 .H. H. SMITH 3,504,865

BOTTLE CRUSHER Filed April 12, 1968 11 I 34 FIG-3 il k:

INVENTOR HOMER I H. SMITH i l ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,504,865 BOTTLE CRUSHER Homer H. Smith, 87 E. Canfield Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48201 Filed Apr. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 720,993 Int. Cl. B02c 19/14 U.S. Cl. 241-99 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bottle crusher which includes a plastic shield body of U-shape with protecting partition intermediate its ends and a work glove secured at one end of the body opening longitudinally outward and adapted to grip a bottle nested within said body; and an open ended chute mounta-ble upon or within a storage receptacle and at its upper open end adapted to protectively enclose said shield body when manually projected into the open end thereof together with the metallic bottle striker bar within and across the chute.

The present invention is directed to an improved bottle breaker or crusher, and represents an improvement over my United States Patent No. 2,756,937, dated July 31, 1956, entitled, Bottle Crusher.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and inexpensive bottle enclosing shield of a plastic or light material with a protective partition intermediate its end and securing within and upon the shield a heavy work gloves which opens longitudinally outward providing a means for manually gripping and holding the bottle withing said shield, which is desired to be broken.

It is another object to provide in conjunction with the present bottle gripping and enclosing shield, an open ended chute adapted for mounting over a storage receptacle, said chute being adapted to protectively enclose and receive said shield when manually projected thereinto, and including means operatively registerable with a bottle within said shield for crushing the same, and wherein the broken particles drop through the chute and down into the storage receptacle.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claims in conjunction with the appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present bottle crusher shield assembly.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the shield receiving chute with metal striker, adapted for mounting upon a storage receptacle.

FIG. 3 is a perspective partly exploded view of a slight ly different form of chute, and storage receptacle.

It will be understood that the above drawing illustrates merely a preferred embodiment of the invention, and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claims hereafter set forth.

Referring to the drawing, the bottle holding and enclosing shield generally indicated at 11, with the bottle shown at B, as it would be used prior to a crushing operation. With the bottle assembled within the shield as shown in FIGURE 1, and with the users hand projected within glove 22 secured within the shield at 23, the said shield and body are manually projected into chute 12, FIGURE 2, which may form a part of the flange cover of a cylindrical container or may take the form such as chute 13, adapted for projection within the storage receptacle 14, which could be a cardboard carton, FIG. 3.

The shield of FIGURE 1 includes a body preferably constructed of a plastic material of general U-shape in crosssection including spaced side walls 16 and bottom wall 17.

3,504,865 Patented Apr. 7, 1970 Partition 18 centrally depressed, or recessed at 19 to receive the reduced or neck portion of bottle B, is mounted upon said bottom wall and extends between said side walls and is fixedly secured to the body intermediate its ends.

Transverse bottle stop 20 extends across one end of said body adjacent the lower portions of the side walls 16 adapted for cooperative registry with a bottle B, said partition being slit at 21 to facilitate and to permit lateral outward flexing of the side walls 16 to facilitate reception of a bottle larger than the one shown for illustration.

Upon the side of the partition 18 opposite from the stop 20 there is centrally mounted a heavy work glove 22, of canvas or other suitable material, which is generally alined with the longitudinal axis of the shield and secured to the shield body as by fasteners or stitching at 23. The glove is so arranged so that its open end extends longitudinally outward of shield body adapted to receive the users hand for grasping the neck of the bottle shown in FIGURE 1, before the bottle crushing operation.

One form of chute is designated at 12 in FIGURE 2, and includes the opposed upright side walls 24, end wall 25, the opposite end being open as at 26 to facilitate the reception of the manualy operable bottle enclosing shield thereinto for the crushing operation, hereafter described. In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 2, the chute 12 at its lower open end is mounted upon and fixedly secured to a container lid 27 which in the conventional case is circular and includes aperture 28 for registry with the lower open end of chute 12 and the peripheral depending flange 29 adapted for mounting over any conventional cylindrical container, such as a trash receptacle or a can.

Metallic striker bar 30 is positioned within the lower portion of the chute 12 and is fixedly secured to the side walls thereof as at 31 by welds or other securing means, and is thus positioned as to be in the path of operative movement of the bottle B as enclosed within its shield, FIGURE 1.

A modified chute assembly is designated at 13, FIG- URE 3, which is open at its top at 34 and open at its bottom at 35, and is adapted for projection into the open end of any suitable carton or receptacle 14, which has closure flaps 38 for illustration.

In the chute construction shown at 13, FIGURE 3, there is included elongated open ended body, generally of rectangular cross section, which includes opposed side walls 32, opposed end walls 33, one of the said end walls at its upper portion being open as at 36. The chute generally has an upper end 34 and a lower open end 35 adapted for communication down into the refuse container 14. In normal operation of the chute assembly 13 the same would be projected down into the storage carton 14.

Adjacent the upper open end of the chute 13, the opposing side walls 32 are flared outwardly angularly, as at 37, to provide a throated or flared opening adapted to cooperatively receive the assembled shielded bottle shown in FIGURE 1 in the bottle crushing operation.

Here also there is provided across the upper open portion of the chute 13 the transversely arranged metallic striker bar 30 anchored to the side walls as at 31.

It is noted in FIGURE 3 as well as in FIGURE 2, that the central body portion of the striker bar 30 in each case is elevated so as to project up into and to operatively engage against the bottle as the bottle and shield are projected into the chute for the crushing operation.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the following claims. I claim:

1. A bottle crusher comprising an elongated plastic shield body of general U-shape in cross section, including a bottom wall and side walls;

a centrally depressed transverse partition upon said bottom wall interconnecting said side Walls intermediate the ends of the body and secured thereto;

a heavy work glove within one end of said body and secured thereto on one side of and adjacent said partition, the open end of the glove extending longitudinally outward of said body;

whereby the glove fingers are adapted to manually grip the neck of a bottle overlying the said partition and nested within said body upon the opposite side of said partition.

2. In the bottle crusher of claim 1, a transverse bottle stop at one end of said body away from said glove and interconnecting the said side walls.

3. The bottle crusher of claim 1, and a hollow chute open at its top and bottom adapted at its bottom to nest upon a storage receptacle;

said chute at its top including side walls and an end wall, the opposite end portion being open, adapted to receive said shield and a bottle manually projected thereinto;

and a metallic bottle striker within said chute extending between and secured to the chute side walls;

said shield body adapted to nest within and be enclosed by said chute Walls.

4. In the bottle crusher of claim 3, said chute including at its bottom a circular flanged container lid adapted for registry over said storage receptacle, and apertured for communication therewith.

5. In the bottle crusher of claim 3, the side walls of said chute at their one ends adjacent the top of said chute being flared angularly outward to guidably receive said shield as it is swung into the chute.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,700,510 1/1955 Wagner 241-99 ROBERT 'C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner M. G. RASKIN, Assistant Examiner 

